Standards Correlations

R.1, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will identify a problem-and-solution relationship in a text about a teen who is working to rid our oceans of plastic waste.

Key Skills

problem and solution, text features, vocabulary, sequence of events, interpreting text, author’s purpose, inference, making connections, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text describes a teen’s efforts to raise awareness about ocean pollution.

 

Structure: The story is mainly chronological and is told from a first-person perspective.

 

Language: The language is conversational.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

SEL Connection

This article and lesson promote responsible decision making.

Lesson Plan: She’s Saving Our Oceans

Essential Questions

  • What actions can individuals take to help the environment?
  • How can young people create change in their communities?

Literature Connection

  • Nonfiction: How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other by Naomi Klein
  • Novel: Flush by Carl Hiaasen

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle. Why do you think the world’s oceans are filling up with plastic? Why might this be a problem? Sample answer: Many products are made with plastic, and plastic stays in the environment for a long time. More and more people might be using plastic products around the world. This is a problem for ocean animals that might swallow or get tangled up in plastic.
  • Look at the photos of Tanya that are included in the article and read their captions. What do they tell you about her? From the photos and captions, you can tell that Tanya  knows how to scuba dive and that she talks to younger students about the problem of plastic trash.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box.  Read the terms (decompose, estimated, generation, impact, pledge) aloud and discuss their definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow. 

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that after reading, they’ll analyze a problem-and-solution relationship in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
  • Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to take note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • In the section “Turtles in Trouble,” what does Tanya mean when she says she decided to “speak for” ocean animals? (interpreting text) Tanya means that she decided to raise awareness about the animals’ suffering. The animals can’t speak, so Tanya shares information about their needs.
  • Why do you think Tanya gives the example of buying a soda at the corner store? What point does this help her make? (author’s purpose) She mentions buying soda at the corner store to illustrate how many pieces of plastic we use just for a simple experience (drinking soda). This helps her make the case that we use a lot more plastic than we need to, and if we tried, we could eliminate this waste.
  • What actions has Tanya taken to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the oceans? (problem and solution) She created a program to educate younger students about the plastic problem, where she asks kids to pledge to avoid plastic. She encourages people to use less plastic every day; for example, by carrying a reusable water bottle and recycling.  

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • After Tanya learned about the damage humans are causing to the oceans, she decided to educate other kids about the issue. Why do you think she chose to put her energy into spreading the word, rather than something like cleaning up beaches or volunteering at a turtle hospital? (inference) To help solve the problem of ocean waste, Tanya decided to engage a lot of other kids in the fight. She probably knew that as one person she could do only so much (one person can pick up only so much trash, for instance), but if she could get others motivated, her impact would be much greater. 
  • Tanya mentions plastic bags, plastic straws, and soda bottles as examples of single-use plastics. What are other single-use plastics you see often? How might you replace them with products made of other materials? (making connections) Answers will vary. Students might mention replacing plastic cups with reusable or paper cups, plastic forks and spoons with reusable metal ones, and plastic packaging for food (such as chips) with paper.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Problem and Solution activity.
  • Go further: Use our Sequence of Events Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions.  (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Think  of a place in your community where a lot of single-use plastics are used. It could be your school cafeteria, a local grocery store, or a coffee shop on your street. Write a letter to a person in charge, suggesting ways to use fewer single-use plastics. Explain your reasoning, using details from the article and your own research.

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Create a “Take the Pledge” Poster

At the end of the article, Tanya says that one thing you can do to help fight plastic pollution is spread the word. You can do that by making a poster!

  • First, watch our informative video “Trash Talk.” Write down any facts that you find especially interesting or surprising. 
  • Toward the end of the video, you’ll hear about the three R’s: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Using information from the article and the video, make a poster that explains why each of these actions is important. Include images to help people understand what each one means. 

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Make parts of speech fun with this quick review.

In this article, the word pledge is used as both a noun and a verb. Tanya asks students to pledge to avoid plastic, and she’s gotten more than 50,000 people to take that pledge.  After reading, ask students to find and highlight the places where pledge appears in the article.

Explain that many English nouns (names of people, places, or things) also exist as verbs (action words). Read aloud each sentence starter below, emphasizing the noun in italics. Then ask students to complete it, using the same word as a verb. Answers may vary.

  • I’m looking forward to the school dance, because I . . . (love to dance).
  • Ella bought enough paint to . . . (paint the whole house).
  • Let’s take a walk in the morning, so we can . . . (walk past the bakery and buy breakfast).
  • My little sister has a great laugh, so I’m always trying to . . . (make her laugh). 
  • When I braid your hair, do you want . . . (one braid or two)?

Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.


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